The Dog Days of Zutara
by Densharr
Summary: MY submissions for Zutara Week 2010. DAY V: Harmony - rating upped on Day VII for mature themes  NOT lemon   playing it safe, here
1. Day I: Family

ZUTARA WEEK 2010.  
**DAY I PROMPT: FAMILY**

(Takes place between TSR and EIP)

It was strange, really. Once, he had chased these people across the world – from the farthest, most desolate reaches of the southern polar caps, up and down what sometimes seemed the length of the entire Earth Kingdoms, and all the way to the elegant brilliance of the North. But now, they were his friends. No, not his friends. He hadn't really had very many friends in his short life, but he knew that these people weren't his friends. They were...

_Family._

Not usually a title that was usually smiled upon, considering who his blood family was. No, these people were family like Uncle, and Mother, and, to a lesser extent, his crew. Often, late at night, he would think about Jee and the others, and wonder if they'd survived the disaster at the North Pole. If they hadn't, he would personally go to each of their families and break the news personally. Assuming that he survived the coming conflict, of course, and there was no guarantee of that.

Zuko watched as the others went along in their normal routines that they had settled into once they had arrived at Ember Island. It had taken some work, but he had finally managed to force himself into their little world.

Aang was like the little brother that he had never gotten the chance to have. In retrospect, their relationship was a lot like his had been with Lu Ten, except this time, he filled the role of the world wise older sibling. Aang did all those things that one expects from a little brother, from the random (airbending) pranks, to the goofing off, and even the complete lack of talent in the kitchen. _Heh_. After what had been dubbed the "Noodle Incident" by Toph, Aang had been terrified not of the kitchen, but more by the prospect of Katara-in-the-Kitchen. _That_ was the only time that Zuko had ever seen Katara completely furious at Aang. He was eternally optimistic, and while it angered him to no end, he accepted his "Everybody's worth saving" lectures with the patience of a father, all the while subtly rubbing at the mess of angry red tissue that covered his face. Because he knew that not everybody was worth saving... but he didn't want to have to be the one to break his heart by making him realise that fact.

Toph, on the other hand, was everything that a little sister wasn't. She acted tougher than most guys Zuko knew (although, to give credit where it's due, she _was_ tougher than most guys that Zuko knew), and her punches were stronger than Sokka's. At times, she completely amazed him by how perceptive she was, but at the same time, she bewildered him with her blunt (and often downright disgusting) habits. But he loved her no less for it – instead, it only made him love her all the more fiercely. For it had been Toph who had accepted him first wholeheartedly into the little family, and Toph that had judged him for _who_ he was, not _what_ he was. When he got depressed, it was always Toph that got him out of it, whether by making him laugh or by making him forget about what troubled him in the first place. Of course, the fact that she didn't want to kill him was definitely a point in her favour to being his favourite sister, considering how the alternative was Azula...

Sokka was like the eccentric uncle that is always fun to play with as a child, but as you grow up, you realise isn't _quite_ right in the head, but you still love dearly. The first few times that Zuko had met Sokka, chasing him across the planet and especially after their first meeting, he had thought that Sokka was an idiot. He eventually began to respect the water tribesman. His ideas, no matter how zany or contrived they may seem, always seemed to work out. Zuko had eventually concluded that he must be a mad genius, sort of like this "Bumi" character that seemed to pop up in a lot of the group's stories about the Earth Kingdoms. The first time that he had said this, one dark night around the fire back at the Western Air Temple, everybody had burst out laughing as Sokka's jaw moved of it's own accord, trying to come up with a suitable comeback.

Suki was the person on the team that he understood the least. Not only could she stand to be around Sokka all the time, but she apparently didn't hold a grudge against him for burning her village to the ground. After that one dark look at the Boiling Rock, she hadn't brought it up. They spent a minimum of time together, but that was starting to change. Not too long ago, he and Suki had started sparring, hand to hand, on the beach just after dusk. She had been complaining that her skills were getting rusty because Sokka was always holding back when they trained together. After the first time, she started hounding me for more until it became a regular thing. They had to get Toph and Katara to distract Sokka whenever they trained, however, because of the possible ramifications that would happen if he saw Suki get hurt.

Katara... Zuko didn't know what to call her. There were slight elements of sisterly affection from her, like the hug that they had shared after Yon Ra, but there was also the mothering instinct that she unconsciously forced on everybody... except me. Of all the people in the Avatar's group, she was probably the one that he understood the most. He understood her pain of losing everything that matters to you in this world, and they had both seen the best and worst in each other. Her worst, when they were hunting for Yon Ra, and her best; when she had offered to heal him, the enemy. His worst, when he betrayed them, but especially her, under Ba Sing Se, and his best; when he had offered her the chance to get closure for her mother's death, a wound that had been festering for years upon years, and accepting her judgement, no matter what it was. She was the first woman that he had really respected as both a fighter and a person, and that made her special, or maybe even dear, to him somehow. Zuko could hear his Uncle's voice in the back of his mind, asking him if respect was the only thing that he felt for the beautiful waterbender. But his Uncle's voice refused to be ignored. If Aang was his little brother/son, Toph his little sister, and Sokka his uncle/brother, what did that leave Katara as? Horrified, Zuko scrambled think of a role for Katara other than the only one he knew to be true. _Mother? No, she doesn't act like my mother. Sister? Not really... _ only one role fit how they reacted to one another, and his semi-latent feelings for her. Finally, Zuko accepted the inevitable and bowed to his uncle's wisdom.

_You want her to be your girlfriend, Zuko._

Holy Hells, that turned out way longer than it was supposed to be. This was supposed to be a drabble. I don't really like how the Suki part turned out, nor the Toph part, but I like the Aang part and I kinda like the Sokka. Not too sure how I feel about the Katara part, though. Anyways, credit where it's due, here:

Suki/Zuko sparring: shamelessly stolen from SpyralHax's awesome Zuki (Zuko/Suki) fic series, beginning with "Nighttime Sparring"

The Noodle Incident: Not sure if its canon or not, but it's a Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler) from X-men: Evolution joke. It's never actually explained, just hinted that it was horrible and that he's never allowed to cook again.


	2. Day II: Change

ZUTARA WEEK 2010.  
**DAY II PROMPT: CHANGE **

(Takes place post-series)

Katara wasn't sure what had happened. After the war was over and Zuko had been crowned Fire Lord, she had been excited to return to her home, the Southern Water Tribe. She had heard from her father, Hakoda, that the reconstruction efforts were coming along nicely and, while not quite approaching the sheer majesty of the North Pole, was less of a sorry sight than it had been the last time that she had seen it. As her father's ship came up within view of the Tribe, however, her stomach fell. There was no nostalgic sense of coming home, sense of _belonging_, that had previously been attached to its icy shores. Now, the only connection that she had with it was her Gran Gran, standing on the newly constructed ice wall, waving her home. Even though the entire tribe was supposedly her family, there were just enough Water tribesmen to make it feel foreign. She dismissed the aching feeling in her heart as just a temporary thing.

- - - oOo - - -

Zuko wasn't sure what had happened. After the war was over and he had been crowned Fire Lord, things were supposed to go back to normal. But when had things ever gone right for Zuko? With Iroh back in Ba Sing Se tending to his newly reopened tea shop, he was left alone in the Capitol with no one to lean on. Zuko and Mai's relationship had been becoming increasingly strained; Zuko simply wasn't the person that he had been before he had gotten banished, and Mai hadn't changed, save to become even more emotionless. It had come to a climax a week ago when Mai had left to stay with her parents in the newly renamed Omashu without as much as a note. Completely alone in the Palace, Zuko realised that the destiny that he had fought for so often, now that it had become a reality, was less than he expected. But he told himself that the hollow feeling in his chest that had been present since the celebration in Ba Sing Se was just because he was overworked.

- - - oOo - - -

In the months that followed, Katara tried to keep herself occupied at all times to help her ignore that aching feeling in her breast. She had thrown herself whole-heartedly into the tribe: in the morning, she sat and gossiped with the other women as they patched various articles of clothing and made new garments. In the afternoons, she helped take care of the children of the tribe and helped in the preparation of the evening meal. In the evening, she taught the junior class of waterbenders as was teaching the more advanced students in the mornings.

It was on the long, cold nights that Katara could admit to herself that her definition of home had somehow... changed in all the months that she had been away. And it didn't help that Sokka spent half his time on Kyoshi Island, visiting Suki. Or that she had broken up with Aang when she had realised that her love for him was nothing more than sisterly, and he had refused to visit unless it was absolutely necessary, dealing with his broken heart in his own way. One morning, just as the ships were setting sail for the semi-annual arctic-hippo hunt, Sokka's ship, the _Yue_, came calling into port. Jumping off the railing and onto the ice docks before the ship had even tied off; Sokka came running towards her, waving a scroll with a coil of red ribbon around it.

"Katara! Come on, we're going to the Fire Nation to visit Zuko! The Fire Nation is having their End of War Festival, and Zuko sent us personal invitations!"

Katara told herself that the irregular beating of her heart at the mere mention of Zuko's name was mere coincidence, and the wide smile that graced her face was just in anticipation of seeing her best friend again for the first time in nearly a year.

- - - oOo - - -

Zuko tried to calm himself as he saw the distinctive Water Tribe ship sail into the harbour. What once could have been considered an act of war now brought nothing but the biggest smile that the Fire Lord had made in nearly a year. As he moved down to the docks, it was an effort of will to stop himself from shucking his heavy formal robes and running down to the docks to greet them. Instead, as protocol dictated, he arrived moments after they docked, surround by a score of the Imperial Guard. He tried to figure out the reason why the hollowness that had been his constant companion for the last eleven months was rapidly filling, but was distracted by people coming down the boarding ramp. Grabbing Sokka's arm in a warrior's greeting, he was surprised to see a pair of bright cerulean eyes looking up at him. As his eyes met the beautiful blue orbs, his heart stopped dead for a second before beating at twice the pace that it had before.

"Katara..."

Before he could finish speaking her name, she had thrown her arms around him and knocked the wind right out of him. Subconsciously, his own arms encircled her and she snuggled deeper into his embrace.

- - - oOo - - -

After a few heartbeats in Zuko's arms, Katara looked up at his molten golden eyes and wondered why the ache in her heart had suddenly eased, and everything seemed right in the world at that moment. She never wanted to let go of Zuko. Ignoring her brother as he cleared his throat to get her attention and hint that 'maybe you've been hugging him long enough', she nuzzled further into his warm chest. As Zuko finally broke the spell and pushed her to arm's length, she saw the warm smile on his face and saw that look of ultimate tenderness in his eyes that she just knew was reflected in her own

- - - oOo - - -

It was at that moment that the two young benders, born of opposing elements, realised a fundamental truth of human nature: That just because you live in a building doesn't make it a home. Home truly lies where your heart is. Gazing into each other's eyes, they knew that as long as they were together, that they would always have a home.

OH GODS THE FLUFF. Remind me NEVER to write something this purely fluffy again... it's almost painful to read. I was totally going to do something silly with this prompt, but then I was in my grandmother's kitchen, and I saw the cross-stitch that hangs above her stove, saying: "Home is where the heart is". And, of course, this made me think about how Zuko/Katara's heart's have changed from where they were at the start of the series (hers in the SWT, his in the FN), and that prompted this. Not my best work, but hey – it's a Zutara, so it's alright. See you soon!

P.S. Credit where it's due:

Arctic-Hippos (if not canon) are from Sharkflip's wonderful Zutara fanfic _Each Other_ (seriously, if you like Zutara, WHY AREN'T YOU READING THIS)


	3. Day III: Pain

ZUTARA WEEK 2010.  
**DAY III PROMPT: PAIN**

(Takes place during either Into the Inferno or Avatar Aang)

(Warning: the rating goes up after this for some harsh language)

_Pain._

Fire filled his every nerve as Zuko tried to stand. He had just attempted to redirect the lightning bolt that his sister, the now apparently insane almost-Fire Lord, had shot at Katara in an attempt to distract him. And the worst part was that her plan had succeeded. Although the Fire Sages in the wings knew that Azula had broken the rules of Agni Kai, they were completely terrified of her. Zuko could only watch weakly as Azula blasted flame after flame at Katara. He saw the beautiful waterbender, _his_ beautiful waterbender, barely managing to deflect the blast of superheated fire.

He had no formal claim on Katara, of course, but after that fateful kiss on the way back from Yon Ra, there had been plenty of sparks between them. Toph had picked up on them, and Zuko had had to threaten her with death by tickling if she didn't keep her little trap shut until they figured out what do to with this thing they had. His breath caught painfully in his side as he tensed, watching Katara ducking behind a pillar to avoid Azula's latest attack.

They were both true prodigies: had the odds not been heavily stacked in Azula's favour, he had no illusions that Katara could have beaten her already in her current state. But Sozin's Comet, that mass of fire that was ripping through the atmosphere at an incredible pace, was filling Azula with power as surely as it was filling Zuko, along with every other firebender on the planet. With its enormous power, it was only a matter of time until Azula burnt Katara to a streak on the courtyard ground. Zuko managed to wedge himself up onto a pillar as the battle continued, the two females exchanging blasts of blue in between them.

Zuko's heart stopped for a split second as one of Azula's fire blasts finally overcame Katara's defences and his waterbender was thrown against a pillar, leaving her helpless against Azula's next attack.

_No._ A cold fury shot through Zuko's veins as rage overtook him_. 'You may have taken my honour, my mother and everything that was good and pure from me, but I'll die before I let you, or my thrice-damned sister, take my woman away from me, Ozai!'_ Ignoring the screams of protest from his beaten body, Zuko pushed himself off of his pillar and threw out a hand, channelling all of his rage and righteous fury into a powerful plume of flame.

A massive blast of white-tinged fire erupted from his hand a blasted Azula off her feet and halfway across the courtyard. Chest streaming blood, Zuko stood blew a plume of white hot flame into the air.

As Azula got up from the ground and watched Zuko roar in rage, she felt the faintest twinges of something in her heart. Watching Zuko like this, all bloody and positively burning with rage, actually intimidated her. He was a silhouette of black against a fiery backdrop of the burning Imperial Palace. As he looked straight at her, that fear increased as she swore that his eyes literally _glowed_ with barely contained fury.

"Azula!" Zuko's voice, broken and raspy beyond belief, sent shivers up Azula's spine. "Don't you even think about taking another step towards her, or it'll be the last thing that you do, I swear by Agni's eternal flames."

Shaking her head to clear it, she scoffed at herself_. 'Scared? Of __**Zuko**__? True, she'd never seen him this angry, but she was always the better firebender. Always was, always is, and __**always**__ would be.'_ She smirked as she sent a blast of her distinctive sapphire flames at Zuko's right, noticing that he was favouring it slightly. The smirk dropped right off her face, however, when Zuko merely waved his arm at her fire blast and it dissipated before it came within a half-dozen paces of him. She shot blast after blast at him, knowing that he wouldn't be able to keep this up, if the trail of blood behind him was any indication. But he kept going beyond all her expectations. He kept moving towards her, limping and deflecting fire blasts as he came closer and closer, leaving a bloody mark of his progress. When he was within forty feet, she set her stance and began to separate the positive and negative energies in the air surrounding her.

- - - oOo - - -

Katara's vision slowly returned after her head impacted the pillar. Expecting Azula to be right on her, she cringed and pulled her arms up to protect her face. Feeling no burning sensation nor hearing any maniacal laughter, she slowly lowered her arms and her jaw dropped at the sight that she saw.

Zuko, who had looked to be mortally wounded when he took the lightning for her, was up on his feet and not only firebending, but apparently _winning_, against all odds. Then she noticed the stream of thick, dark blood running off of his body.

- - - oOo - - -

Zuko no longer thought in such terms like pain, surrender or even honour. All that and other petty concerns were burned away by the cold flames of his anger. Dissipating blast after blast of Azula's flames, he noticed when she stopped blasting flame and began to charge a lightning bolt. He continued in his unstoppable march across the courtyard, stepping closer and closer to his goal with every second_._

'_That dragon-bitch. She who had hurt what was his. Dragons protect what is theirs, whatever the cost.' _ When the flash of lightning raced for his heart, he snatched it from the air and brought it down to his sea of chi in his stomach, avoiding his already injured heart, and led it up his other arm. Feeling it travel down to his hand, Zuko flicked his wrist at the exact moment that it left his body and Azula watched in horror as her lightning bolt not only failed to kill him, but was heading straight towards her. Seeing the momentary indecision on Azula's face, Zuko broke into a run, distantly feeling a searing pain in his chest as he picked up speed on his way towards the thing that had hurt his mate.

- - - oOo - - -

Azula managed to throw herself to the ground before the lightning slammed into the pillar a ways behind her, shattering it. '_Where in the hells did Zuko learn to redirect lightning? It had to have been Uncle Fuddy Duddy... guess that I'll have to order his execution after I kill Zuzu and Father defeats the Avatar'._ Staggering to her feet, Azula was more than slightly surprised to see Zuko standing over her, waiting for her to get up. Staring at her brother, she barely recognized him as human.

His ribs, visible through the rent in his skin that her first lightning bolt had wrought, matched the paleness of his skin, gone bone-white from blood loss. But it was his face that had undergone the greatest change. Gone was the typical indecision and weakness that Azula had learned oh-so-long ago to prey on and exploit. Gone was the slight softness of his eyes, and the subtle smile that threatened to break out. His eyes, once his feature that broadcast his inner kindness, were now molten gold, furious and itching to burn. His mouth was marked by a feral snarl, and his every breath was licked with flames. Before she could even react, his heated hand was around her throat, closing off her air supply, and the hand was getting hotter and ohAgnihewas**burning**herthepainthepainthe-

Azula's pain didn't diminish, but her brother's hands where no longer around her throat. Looking to see who her saviour was, she was surprised to see that it had been the waterbending wench, the one that Zuko had so foolishly risked his life to save, that was standing in front of her, blocking Zuko from his sister. Grabbing a stream of water from the nearby grate, she froze Zuko solid in a glacier of ice.

- - - oOo - - -

Katara had been shocked enough by Zuko's seeming transformation, but when he had grabbed Azula by the throat and started burning a hole through it, Katara knew that she had to step in and save Zuko from himself. Grabbing as much water as she could trust herself controlling, she slammed it into Zuko, knocking him away from the sister that he seemed dead-set on killing. As Azula fell to the ground, Zuko rolled with the force of the blow and before he could re-orient himself on his sister, Katara stepped in the way and froze Zuko solid in a block of ice. Unfortunately, it worked about as well as it had all hose months ago in the North Pole: she heard a muted roar and then the interior of his prison began to shine for a second before it shattered, blowing Katara off her feet.

Without giving her the chance to get up and try to stop him again, Zuko raced towards Azula again, and Katara did the one thing that she could think of to stop him. She threw her arms around his and locked her wrists.

- - - oOo - - -

Zuko was angry, betrayed and confused. As he thrashed about, trying to escape, he kept asking himself: Why was his waterbender stopping him from punishing the one who had hurt her? Why was she stopping him from claiming the justice that was so rightfully his, not only for this transgression, but for all the years that he had had to put up with her? Gradually, he realised that Katara was talking, murmuring words into his ears.

"Zuko, you can't do this, I can't let you become the same monster that they've already become... I can't let you, I won't!"

Suddenly, the magnitude of what he had been doing and what he had almost done hit him.

"Oh Agni... Katara... what have I done?"

- - - oOo - - -

Pulling herself back, she saw that the fury had left Zuko's eyes and instead, in its place, there was horror and a bone-shatteringly deep well of guilt. She only caught sight of his eyes for a second before they rolled into his head and he finally collapsed for the final time.

- - - oOo - - -

Three days later, at Fire Lord Zuko's funeral pyre, Iroh was holding Katara and Toph as they cried onto his shoulders. Iroh had known how Zuko had felt about her ever since they had been rejoined at the White Lotus camp outside of Ba Sing Se before the final battle. In Iroh's pocket was the betrothal necklace that Zuko had carved and had kept with him, tucked into his tunic during the final battle and recovered by Iroh before the Fire Sages embalmed the body. He would give it to Katara before she left for her home in the Southern Water tribe beside her brother and father. It was only after the Avatar had arrived after the final battle, exulting in the fact that he didn't have to kill the Fire Lord, when he had tried to kiss Katara, that she had truly broke down. Everybody save Iroh and Toph had been shocked when she screamed at him to leave her alone, saying that although he might be the most powerful bender on the planet, he wasn't '_her'_ powerful bender. After a few minutes of ranting at a fortuneteller called Aunt Wu, she had disappeared into the Imperial Palace and no one knew that she had snuck into the Royal Mortuary and broke down over Zuko's cold body.

Iroh looked down onto the pyre that had, until recently, held the boy that he had all but adopted as his second son, the boy that had been not only an older brother, but a best friend to the girl on his left, and the one true love of the girl on his right.

As the last embers died on the pyre, everybody save the three crying benders left, leaving those three who had been closest to him in life to try and comfort each other in the pain of his death.

Oh Gods, please don't kill me *hides* Zuko's death came out of nowhere for me too. And the prompt WAS pain, so if anyone is to blame, it's not me. Nor GreenifyMe, or the other wonderful staff at Zutara Week. No, the person who you should blame... is YOURSELF. You are the one who helped select the themes for Zutara Week. I actually started to tear up as I finished this. Why did I have to write a tragedy at the flippin' START of Zutara Week? Zutara week is supposed to be happy, dammit...

Credit where it's due:

Vathara, for the "Dragon Rage" in her fanfic Embers (in my opinion, a must-read for ANY fan of the show/Zuko)


	4. Day IV: Date

ZUTARA WEEK 2010.  
**DAY IV PROMPT: DATE **

(Takes place between TFM and TBR, and features Bitter!Katara)

Katara glared at the firebender as he left the campfire and returned to his rooms. Ever since he and Aang had returned from their field trip, the two boys and Toph had been completely at ease with the scarred boy, and even Sokka had been warming up to him. But she knew him better than that. Oh, yes, did she ever know him better than that. She knew that he cared about nothing but his so called "honour". He had proven _that_ much underneath Ba Sing Se.

Which is why she was so surprised at the scene before her. Unbeknownst to the firebender, she had snuck off to follow him on the pretence of going to bed herself. Watching him from the shadows, she saw as he reached for a small portrait that was next to his bed and lightly stroke the frame. His mouth moved and she heard the faintest murmur coming from him, but she was too far away to hear any distinct words. She watched as Zuko carefully placed the frame back in its customary place and placed another small package, this one still wrapped, beside it before clenching his fists and crawling underneath his single, light sheet.

Intrigued, Katara tried to sneak farther into Zuko's room, to see if she could catch a glimpse at the mysterious picture frame and the wrapped package. Funny how she hadn't noticed the picture the last time she had been in here, the night that she had threatened him. Just as she was about to turn the picture so she could see it, Zuko's hand shot out behind him and grabbed her wrist. Gasping in astonishment, she tried to pull her hand back, but his hands were the same vice that they had been that night under the tree with the pirates. She tried to stare him down to get him to release her hand s, but when her eyes met his glowing amber eyes, her heart seemed to drop into her stomach. _His eyes can't possibly be_ glowing, _can they?_ Before she could do anything else, however, Zuko's hand shoved her back a step as he got out of bed.

"Are you in the habit of watching people as they sleep, or am I just special?" Zuko's raspy voice cut the still night air as Katara stood, still half-petrified, staring at his seemingly luminescent eyes. Recovering, Katara managed to look haughty as she opened her mouth.

"What's in the package? And who's that a picture of"

Giving her a sideways look, Zuko snorted. "Why should I tell you? You've done nothing but make my life miserable since I got here. Now look, it's late, and I'm getting up at dawn to train Aang. Would you mind letting me sleep?"

Katara felt a surge of anger wash through her. Since when had he stopped taking her abuse? "_Excuse_ me? The only reason that you're even here is because I agreed to let you train Aang. If the vote hadn't been unanimous, you wouldn't be here. So shut up and show me appreciation. Now, I believe that I asked to see your..." Katara trailed off as she felt a chill freeze along her ribs and back as Zuko stepped towards her, eyes smouldering in fury.

"Why can't you get over this? Everybody else is finally starting to accept me, and yet here you are, trying to provoke me into attacking you so that they will kick me out." Zuko punctuated his words with his finger, moving closer and closer to Katara, forcing her to back up to avoid being poked with his finger. He kept forcing her back until she hit a wall. Taking a brief look around, she realised that he had managed to force her out of his room.

Before she could do anything about it, however, she was drawn in once again by his burning eyes. "But I won't let you. Haven't you learned by now? I thrive on adversity. I've lived with it very single day of my life, peasant, and I'll be damned if you think that you can win this one. So go back to your Water Tribe blankets and forget this incident ever happened... because that's what I'm going to do. Goodnight." As Zuko walked away, he slammed his door behind him.

Katara stood there in shock a moment longer before heading off to her own rooms, telling herself that she was going back because it was late, not because Zuko told her to. Resolving to ask Toph about Zuko's strange behaviour in the morning, she pulled up her sleeping skins and fell asleep, dreaming of defiantly glowing golden eyes in the night.

- - - oOo - - -

"Hey Toph. What's up?"

Toph angled her head slightly at the sound of Katara's oddly sweet voice. She had known that Katara was going to see her this morning, after feeling what she had last night. "What do you want, Sweetness?"

Taken aback by Toph's brusqueness, Katara flew into mothering mode without even realising it. "Toph, don't talk to me like that."

"Sugar Queen, give it up already. You only sound like _that_ when there's something you want from me." Crossing her arms over her chest, Toph was not impressed (although not terribly surprised, either)with Katara's tone.

Allowing herself a hint of a blush, Katara forged on to ask Toph the question that had been bothering since last night's... encounter. "Did you notice anything... weird about Zuko yesterday?"

"What, did Princess actually grow a spine last night, or something?" Toph asked, already knowing the answer.

"Well, that's beside the point, but... you felt the whole thing, didn't you?"

"Don't you know it, Sweetness. The only question is, what are you going to do for me if I tell you?"

"I don't know... I'll make your favourite meal?"

"Nope. You, dear Katara, are going to give Zuko a break."

"What? Why should I give that dirty Fire Nation traitor a break?"

"Because you don't understand him. He's like me, in a way: he gave up everything to come and help you guys. He could have stayed in the Fire Nation and nobody would have been the wiser. Now the guy who was raised to rule the entire Fire Nation is hated by those same people because he turned traitor on not only his own family, but his whole _Nation_, to help the Avatar. It's likely that even after we win this war, his own country will still hate him. Do you have any idea of how depressing that must be?"

Sputtering, Katara tried to come up with a reasonable argument, but Toph was having none of that. "And then you pick one of the worst possible times to have an argument with him."

"Why was yesterday one of the worst possible times to have an argument with him?"

"Because, Sugar Queen, yesterday was his Uncle's birthday."

"So? All Zuko cares about is his honour."

Stomping her foot, Toph raised a block of stone to her head level. And smashed her forehead through it, shattering it into a hundred pieces. And then _looked_ at the waterbender standing opposite her.

"What?"

"Zuko lost all of his honour coming to help us, can't you _get_ that? _He doesn't have any left_, at least according to the Fire Nation. Add that to the trauma of him celebrating his Uncle's birthday alone when he doesn't even know that he'd be so proud of Zuko for joining us..." Toph looked up at Katara and she was surprised to see a tear trickling from the corner of her eyes. "Don't you understand? He gave up _everything_."

As Toph walked off, only one coherent thought came to Katara. '_I guess that I should wish Iroh a belated birthday if I ever see him again'_

I. LOVE. Toph. She's hilarious, but I usually can't find it in myself to write her. Hope that I didn't fail too badly here. Not too proud of this piece, it was supposed to turn out a bit differently, but... oh well. How are these getting longer? This was supposed to be the shortest one yet... At least Storm is kinda short...

Credit where it's due: Vathara again, today, for her scene in Embers where Toph smashes blocks with her head in frustration. Toph's speech about Zuko also partly inspiried from Embers.


	5. Day V: Harmony

EDIT: My author's comments got cut off, so I had to reload it. Whoops. Without further ado, enjoy!

ZUTARA WEEK 2010.  
**DAY V PROMPT: HARMONY **

(Takes place post-series)

Former Admiral Jeong Jeong of the Fire Navy was more than slightly confused. Here he was, a year after the war had ended, and Fire Lord Zuko had pulled him from his retirement and told him that they were going on a trip. So now he was sitting on the saddle of the Avatar's bison which the young airbender had leant to the Fire Lord and his girlfriend, the Lady Katara, as they headed towards their destination. Fire Lord Zuko had been outraged when he had found out that Jeong Jeong had refused to firebend, and demanded to know the reason why.

After the White Lotus Rebellion at Ba Sing Se had ended, Jeong Jeong had wandered the streets in a haze of smoke, stunned at the death and destruction that firebending, _his_ firebending had caused. On that day, he had sworn never to firebend again.

The first few months had been hard. Buying his first set of spark rocks even worst, for people gossiped all around them. They had thought that they were being quiet, but his senses, keen after years of hiding, could hear every word.

_Why is he buying those? He's a firebender..._

_I've heard that he's gone soft in the head in his old age..._

_Abandoning his heritage like that... he's' a disgrace to the Fire Nation..._

Those comments hurt the worst. Calling him a disgrace because he didn't want to get torn any further apart? He remembered what he had told the young Avatar nearly two years previously, when the young airbender had come to learn firebending from him.

_It forces those of us burdened with its care to walk a razor's edge between humanity... and savagery. Eventually, we are torn apart._

But he had managed to ignore these rumours until finally, two days ago, his grandson had come to his estate on the Rim of the Capitol to see if they had been telling the truth. '_So much like his mother, that way._' Only recently had Zuko discovered that Jeong Jeong was Ursa's father, and he was determined to create a good relationship to one of the only members of his blood family that wasn't insane.

This led him to be on the back of this giant, flying beast as they flew through the air. He sat on one side of the saddle as the Fire Lord sat on the other, with Lady Katara resting her head on his lap while the Avatar flew the bison from on top of its head.

"We're here!" The Avatar yelled, half turning his head so the passengers could hear him over the wind. Jeong Jeong caught the briefest hint of pain in his eyes as the Avatar looked over and saw Katara in Zuko's embrace. Looking to where the Avatar indicated, he was fairly unsurprised to see an island rising from the horizon. A fairly large island, as far as the volcanic islands of the Fire Nation went. It appeared to be uninhabited, judging by the lushness of the forest on it. As they continued over past the trees, however, he caught a glimpse of something that did not belong.

"Is that... a pyramid?"

With a smirk in his direction, Zuko merely looked at him. "Haven't you ever heard the legends of the Sun Warriors, Grandfather?"

- - - oOo - - -

It had been noticeably easier getting past the traps this time, Zuko mused. '_I mean, this time we know that they Sun Warriors are still alive, and we know where their camp is, so we can just fly straight there.'_ Trying hard to keep the smirk from his face, he noticed exactly when Jeong Jeong saw the Sun Warrior Tribe waving them down.

- - - oOo - - -

'_This... this was awe-inspiring.'_ Jeong Jeong tried to keep the wonder from his face as he held a part of the First Flame in his hands. After learning the Dancing Dragon form (Katara had teased Zuko about it mercilessly as Aang had alternated between smiling and sadness upon seeing how happy she was with Zuko), the Sun Warriors had brought them to the First Forge. Here, cradled in his hands, was a true piece of his heritage. He was beginning to understand Zuko's cryptic message about fire not only being the harbinger of death. He could feel it, almost a thrumming heartbeat, emanating from the small flame. As they finally arrived to the plaza, Jeong saw the steep staircase flanked by two monolithic stone towers.

As they climbed it, maintain the flame that the Sun Warriors hadn't taken from them, the Warriors spread it in a hoop and began their rhythmic chanting and drumming. Jeong Jeong could feel the beat echoing under their feet as they arrived at the top of the staircase. Seeing Zuko nervously dancing from foot to foot, he quirked an eyebrow at his grandson. "What are you nervous about, grandson? You've already met the masters, and they've judged you worthy."

With a tight-lipped smile Zuko looked back at his grandfather. "It's more the... nature of the Masters themselves that's putting me on edge."

Jeong Jeong opened his mouth to ask him what he meant when a roar suddenly reverberated through the air. A hint of fire from deep inside one of the towers which he had just realised had tunnels bored into their sides and was that a-

Fast as he could blink, a massive _scaled_ red form flew by him. He was half turned by the force of the wind, and, to his shock, turned back again as a blue form flew past him. Shaking his head to restore his balance, he was shocked to see a pair of _dragons_ encircling them, one red like the flame held in his hands, the other blue like the sky. '_Not unlike two young people that I know...'_

"Zuko, these are..." Jeong Jeong trailed off, the awe evident in his voice. '_They're all supposed to be gone. Iroh killed the last one... didn't he?'_

"The Masters" Zuko finished for him, voice reverent. "Now, honoured Grandfather, do you recall the form?" With a nod, they took their places near the edge of the dais and began to run through the kata that made up the form. Sparing a glance for his nephew, he was shocked to see the red dragon keeping time with his grandson as he moved around the dais. Glancing to his other side, he was more than a little shocked to see the blue dragon accompanying him. Reaching the end of the katas, he and Zuko reached the final kata leaned towards each other, dispelling the flames in between their fists, held a mere hand span apart. With a final twirl above them, the dragons settled down on either side of the dais, gripping the staircase, and blew white hot flames at them.

Jeong Jeong nearly flinched, but he heard Zuko muttering "Stay", so he merely braced himself. When the flames instead turned into a spiralling tower around them, he realised that they weren't only white flames. There was every color of the rainbow inside them. Feeling a new found feeling of peace inside of him, he heard once again that heat beat that he had felt from the First Flame, magnified a dozen times over.

"Fire... is life, isn't it? Fire burns, but in doing so, plants the seeds for new life."

Jeong Jeong was completely caught by surprise when Zuko turned him and caught him in a tight embrace. "Yes it is, grandfather, yes it is." It was only then that Jeong Jeong saw the single teardrop making its way down Zuko's face from his unscarred eye. J

Jeong Jeong was still in shock as they descended from the dais and Zuko ran into Katara's arms. As she gushed about how amazing the dragons were, Jeong Jeong couldn't help but be struck by the two benders. _'Just like the dragons. One red and one blue. One male, one female. One destroys while the other creates. Both in perfect harmony, both now and forever.'_

- - - oOo - - -

Because we never did get resolution on Jeong Jeong's fear/hatred of firebending, and because Jeong Jeong is one of my favourite underused characters on Avatar. Oh, and no, Jeong Jeong is NOT Roku's son. Because that would just be TOO weird. He married Roku and Ta Min's daughter. It also makes Iroh Jeong Jeong's SON-in-law. Trippy, ain't it?

I realise there isn't much Zutara in this, but I've wanted to do a Jeong Jeong fic for a while.

FREAKY. I just realised that this thing has every prompt up until now in it. Family (Jeong Jeong being related to Zuko), Change (Jeong Jeong's opinion of firebending), Pain (Aang seeing the awesomeness that is Zutara), Date (this could kinda be considered a pseudo-date for Katara and Zuko) and, finally, Harmony.


	6. Day VI: Alternate Universe AU

ZUTARA WEEK 2010.  
**DAY VI PROMPT: ALTERNATE UNIVERSE (AU) **

(-)

Katara was shaking as the man that she had saved her placed a woollen blanket over her shoulders. Part of her was still in shock and denial about what had happened, but the rest of her knew that what she had seen hadn't been a hallucination, or some movie-special effect. As Zuko kneaded her shoulders in an attempt to soothe her nerves, she thought back to the events of an hour ago that had completely changed her life...

- - - oOo - - -

She had been walking home after her evening shift at Gaoling General Hospital, where she worked as a triage nurse. She had gotten off work at just after midnight, and was walking the seven blocks to her apartment. She had never had trouble walking home before: she lived in a fairly decent neighbourhood of the newly thriving city, and she was always armed with a can of mace and her brown belt in karate. But on this night, a man had swaggered up to her from the shadows, seemingly out of nowhere, and introduced himself as Jet.

More amused than frightened, Katara had firmly told him that she wasn't interested in a relationship, and tried to sidle her way around him. Faster than she could blink, his arm was in her path, and his face was cracked into a grin. It was then that Katara had started getting angry, and looked him in the eye to give him a piece of her mind. But the moment that her blue eyes met his cold, hard eyes, all of her resistance faded away, and she willingly let him throw his arm around her and steer her towards the darkened alley way.

The strangest part was how completely normal it seemed for her to enter a dark alley with a man she had met only moments ago, as if it was something that she did every other day. In the dark recesses of her mind, she heard a voice screaming at her to snap out of it, that something wasn't right, but this was easily drowned out by the comforting weight of Jet's arm on her shoulder. The next instant, when he had shoved her up against the wall and started kissing her far rougher than she liked, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to respond enthusiastically, no matter what that tiny voice was screaming away in the back of her mind. His mouth slowly moved from her lips to her jawbone, trailing oddly cold kisses down her face until he came to her neck. There, he stopped and gave her neck a long, slow lick right above her carotid artery, and she ignored the odd coldness. When she started to feel an odd pressure against her neck, she tried to look down but all she saw was a small trail of blood leaking down her shirt.

'_He's biting your neck!'_ The voice inside her screamed _'Get away get away get AWAY!'_ In a flash, her free will reasserted itself and she began to struggle, trying to break free of his oddly cold hands. But his thin build held an immense strength, and his arms remained unmovable. She could feel herself growing weak as she lost more and more blood to this fiend, and just as her vision began to fade, she smelt an overpowering odour of pine and old growth forest and Jet was torn away from her and slammed into the other side of the alleyway. She looked at her rescuer and her breath caught in her lungs. He was easily the most gorgeous creature that she had ever seen, blowing all of her fantasies about men out the window. He was lean, almost willowy in build, but she could feel the raw strength and grace that he seemed to exude with every passing moment. He was wearing a cloak that seemed to shift between gray and green at any given moment, and his long, black hair reached his shoulders. His finely crafted breastplate was inlaid with traceries of gold and he had a sword pointed at Jet in one hand, and a wooden stake in the other.

"Jet." She thought that she imagined the frostiness in his voice until she was shocked to see his breath cloud in front of him.

Getting up, she could see the recognition on Jet's face. "Zuko... how nice to see you after all these years. How long has it been this time, eh? A hundred forty years? You remember, that cute asian girl, from Japan, what was her name? I think that it was Mai..."

Zuko snarled and brought his sword down on Jet, but Jet had already moved by the time the blade reached the space that he had just occupied. Twirling around, she finally got to see the other half of his face, and she was shocked to see his angelic features marred with an ugly scar. She also couldn't help but notice his pointed ears as his hair parted around them. Then her eyes met his and a feeling much like the one Jet had made her feel washed over her, except this time she was completely in control.

'_I want him'_ came the completely unbidden thought, rising to her mind. _'Even with the scar, he's the most spectacular looking man I've ever seen. Hell, the scar adds to it.'_

Zuko kneeled down next to her with concern in his eyes. "Hold on, you've lost a lot of blood." Holding a strange looking leaf over her neck, he crumbled it with murmuring something in a language that sounded like moonbeams dancing across a waterfall's spray. She caught a golden glow from the corner of her eye, and all of a sudden pain lanced through her system as she finally felt where her neck had been violated by Jet's fangs.

"I'm sorry" Zuko murmured, taking a roll of soft white material from beneath his cloak. Wrapping it around her next a few times, he quickly bound her neck. "I should have gotten him before he go to you, but I want sure if it was him..."

"He was... he couldn't have been..."

"A vampire? Oh yes. He got turned by one of the few remaining Elders nearly three hundred years ago."

"But... those are just legends... and what ARE you?"

"I'm sorry. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Prince Zuko of the Jiulong Baguazhang lineage, High Warden of the Feywild."

"The... Feywild? What's that?"

"The Feywild is the shadow of what you would call your world. It's what connects your earth and my own realm of Faerie."

"So... you're a fairy?"

A flash of amusement darkened his eyes briefly. "Do I look six inches tall to you? No, I'm one of the _álfr_, what you would likely call an elf"

"But why did you save me?"

"In the absence of light, darkness prevails. There are things that go bump in the night, girl. Make no mistake about that. And the High Wardens are the ones who bump back. It is our ancestral duty, handed down since time immemorial."

- - - oOo - - -

Yes, Zuko's an elf in this one. Not too happy with this one, but... meh. I couldn't figure out how to end this. More specifically, an Elven Prince of the Faerie Court, and High Ranger of the Feywild, the buffer between our world and the world of the Fey. My entry for Storm is going to be late – my sister is coming from out of town to a surprise visit. I'm lucky that I managed to get this out before she came.

Credit where's it's due:

Feywild/Faerie: blame my Dungeons and Dragons skillz. Feywild is from 4e, and Faerie is from 3.5 Forgotten Realms

Ending quote is from Hellboy, possibly one of my favourite movies EVER.


	7. Day VII: Storm

A/N: Better late than never, right? I saw a LOT of people wrote up TSR-esque scenes, and I only saw one or two like this, so here you go (and yes, I HAVE to defy conventional wisdom with these. Don't be silly). Turned out a LOT darker (And WAY longer) than I thought it would, so this baby is pumping up the rating.

ZUTARA WEEK 2010.  
**DAY VII PROMPT: STORM **

(Takes place 18 months post-series)

In the midst of the deadliest storm of the year, a figure stood upon the cliff, face raised to the heavens as he cried.

"Why?" Shaking his fists in fury, the man yelled at the embodiment of Mother Nature's wrath. "Why did you take her? You could have taken anybody else! Agni, you should have taken me rather than letting her die! Why do you always take what means the most to me?" Ripping off his shirt in fury, the young man let it fall as the rain fell down his muscled and scarred torso as he glared off into the nebulous clouds.

Flashes of days past burn their way through his mind: Smiling golden eyes, a soft touch, and a scent of fire lilies and the barest hint of lavender. Hours spent feeding turtleducks, watching sunsets and days on the beach. All shattered.

"Have it your way, then. Strike me down! It's not as if you're afraid, you've been doing it my whole life!" When the storm refused to cede to his demands, the young man walked to the very edge of the sheer cliff and simply let himself drop over the edge, falling towards sharp rocks and oblivion. Just as he disappeared over the edge of the precipice, he heard a feminine voice shriek out his name. Smiling bitterly, he managed to force out an apology to the woman before darkness enveloped him.

_I'm sorry, Katara._

- - - oOo - - -

It had all began nearly a month beforehand. Zuko had finally managed to make Ozai crack and begin releasing information on his mother. And when he had found out where she was being held, Katara had insisted on coming along. So they had set out for Dragon's Tail island, nearly one hundred kilometres due west of Whale Tail Island. What they found there, however, was not what they had expected.

- - - oOo - - -

"Zuko, this is crazy. You can't go in there like this. Not like you are now" Katara planted herself in front of the determined firebender, hands on her hips. They had arrived on the island moments ago, and, after changing into their "ninja" outfits, had scouted out the island on Appa. It was a basically deserted island except for the fort standing on the western edge of it, surround on all sides by sheer cliff sides.

"I don't care what you think, Katara, this is something that I have to do. If you don't want to see, then I suggest that you leave." He almost hoped that she did leave. He didn't want her to know the monster that he kept caged inside.

Zuko like... _this_ frightened her. She hadn't seen him like this since the days before the Siege of the North Pole while hunting the Avatar. As she finally managed to catch his eyes, she was astonished at the intensity of the flames that seemed to emanate from them. She was forced to revise her earlier opinion: '_He had _never_ been this ruthlessly determined to catch Aang.'_ Before, whenever he had chased them, they could always see at least a small portion of denial, or hurt. Something other than the sheer rage that had always seemed to consume him. But this... there was no room left for anything like mercy. There was murder in his eyes. And it frightened her to the core. She knew that if anybody got in the way, she would not be able to stop him from killing them.

At the same time, it somehow managed to attract her. She had always had an attraction to boys with strong convictions; Jet, Haru, even Aang. Of these, Zuko was the most similar to Jet. But even though she knew that they were both capable of killing, Zuko didn't frighten her to nearly the same degree. What Jet delivered was revenge for his slain family and stolen childhood, and he would lash out at anyone who hurt him or disagreed with him. But Zuko... he promised justice to those deserving of it.

Zuko had learned from Ozai a few meagre details of Ursa's captivity: Only the fact that she was on the island, and that she was protected by a group of guards handpicked by Ozai himself. She hadn't been there when Zuko had interrogated the man he used to call 'Father', but she had heard that the burn ward doctors and nurses had to be rushed down after he was through.

"...I'm not leaving you." Katara's simple statement almost floored Zuko. He knew that she could read his eyes, and he knew that his were screaming bloody murder. How could she stand to be near him? "I know that this isn't going to be pretty, but if it was my mother... well, you saw what I almost did"

Zuko shoved her aside. "That's exactly my point. What you _almost_ did. You and me, we're different. You could stand there and tell him that he wasn't worth your time. I can't. The fire within me demands that I do something, and I'm not going to be able to let them walk away, Katara. You don't want to darken your soul like mine already has been, Katara. Just... walk away." Pushing past her, he started walking up the pathway towards the low stone building where Ozai had said she was being kept.

Ignoring the fact that Zuko had just revealed that he had killed before, Katara grabbed a tendril of water from the humid, soon-to-storm air and whipped it around Zuko's arm, spinning him around. Stalking up to him, she prepared to give him the lecture of his lifetime when she saw the look of regret in his eyes. Before she could ask, Zuko's hand slammed into the juncture of her throat and shoulder and as her world faded away, she heard Zuko's whispered apology.

"It's for your own good, Katara. I'm sorry..."

- - - oOo - - -

After placing Katara's unconscious body back onto Appa's saddle, Zuko tugged up his turtleneck, concealing the lower half of his face. Although there was no disguising his identity, it should alter his voice enough as to bring his victims in close.

Zuko studied the structure as he came closer to it. It was a single story fortress made up of thick grey stone, with a single large, heavy oaken door. He could see the seam in between the slabs of rock, so he knew that it wasn't bent by earthbenders. He smiled. _That just makes my job easier_. Walking around to the east side of the building, Zuko easily scaled the building's exterior wall, his strong fingers expertly finding minute gaps in the stonework. Dropping down over the other side, he quickly darted into the nearest bank of shadows. He had started scaling the wall less than twenty seconds ago. Sparing a glance at the moon to judge the time, he was unsurprised to note the brewing storm clouds. He had been feeling latent electrical energy buzzing around for the past hour.

As the first pair of patrol guards walked by, he unsheathed his dao and snuck up behind them. With nary a scuff of a foot or a sound from his weapons, he plunged them into the guards' necks, instantly severing their carotid arteries. Dragging the bodies into the shadows, he didn't take too much care to hide them. Soon, a pair of dead guards would be the least of their concerns. He dispatched the other two patrols in a similar fashion, always dragging the bodies off to a different spot. He soon penetrated the core of the structure. Leaving the sleeping soldiers, he went straight to the prison area. As soon as he arrived, his gradually growing happiness was destroyed and was replaced by a cold rage. He saw what remained of his mother on a hard bench in a medium sized cell. The only part of her that was not burnt was her face. For a second, he couldn't take his eyes off of her, but then he heard a man's voice talking.

"Heh, I shouldn't have waited this long to grab me a piece of that. Too bad that she only lasted the one session... they can usually live long enough for me to pass her on to the next guy." Zuko's fury mounted when he realised what the man was talking about. Not giving him a chance to defend himself, he burst out of his hiding spot and threw a mass of nearly white hot flame at the guard. Judging by the rank insignia on his uniform, this was the head gaoler himself, the infamous Corporal Li Fao, the "Burner of Virgins" He had gotten his nickname through his long-time practice of raping female prisoners. The man managed to deflect away a significant portion of the blast, but some slipped through his defences.

As the man screamed in pain at the burns appearing on his hands and face, Zuko harnessed another gout of flame and blasted it at the man. This time, the man intercepted it with a blast of his own, though it's only effect was to weaken the blow that launched him off his feet.

"Okay, who in the nine hells are you, punk? One of the guards? If so, I'm sorry that you can't have a go at the Fire Princess, but come on: I've been here longer than anyone. If anyone deserved a piece of her..." his voice faded as his vision returned and he caught a good look at his attacker for the first time. "You... you can't be here. You can't possibly be here."

A sick and brutal grin appeared on Zuko's face. "You say that, yet here I am. And you're going to pay for what did. To. My. MOTHER!" With a furious roar, he blasted a plume of fire worthy of the Dragon of the West at Li Fao. The Corporal managed to get out of the way as he ran out into the courtyard. As he entered the centre, he spun around and slowly continued walking backwards, keeping his eye on the door, waiting for the scarred firebender to exit. He was taken completely by shock when he ran into a solid object and heard that distinctive raspy voice whisper into his ear: "Looking for me?"

Just as he started to run, he felt a hand digging into his back right near his kidney as an arm threw itself across his neck. He cringed as he realised that the hand on his kidney was burning hot. "Have... have mercy. "

He could almost hear the Fire Lord's voice harden into sword-steel. "Not tonight, Corporal. Not tonight." These were the last words that he heard before his captor's hand crept up to his face and he felt burning fingertips on his eyelids. A second later, his world erupted into pain and the only sound he could hear was his own screams.

- - - oOo - - -

Katara woke up a few hours later with a fuzzy head to a storm drenching the island. After shaking her head to clear it, everything came back and she remembered where she was. '_Dragon's Tail Island. Ursa. Zuko. Tui and La, Zuko!' _ Rushing out of Appa's saddle, she ran to the fortress, only to see the faintest trails of smoke coming from it, and the heavy oaken doors were thrown off their hinges, tongues of fire still licking their way across the wooden surface. _Zuko..._ Rushing into the fortress, she saw the horror that he had inflicted. There were dead bodies lying here and there, but the worst by far was a man lying on the ground near the centre of the courtyard. His entire torso was covered with burns and when she looked closer, she saw that he had only two bloody holes where his eyes had been, and his groin was completely burned away, leaving only a blackened mess between his legs. To her horror, she discovered that he was still breathing when she came up to him.

"Help... help me." The man's voice, hoarsened by all the smoke that he had inhaled, called out to her. With a single look, she could tell that his wounds were fatal, and her mind was divided as she automatically drew water from the air and tried to ease his passing. '_How could Zuko do this to another person? Then again, only this man has extensive injuries. Why was he singled out?'_ As Katara's mind wandered from the healing, the water stopped tingling in her hands. Renewing her efforts, she realised that the man had already passed. Praying his soul onto whatever spirit would take it, she saw the single cherry blossom tree in the courtyard billowing flames. Heading towards it, she could see a figure leaning against the trunk, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the tree was burning. Running, now, she approached the tree and was about to douse the flames when she realised who was underneath it.

'_By the spirits... it's Ursa.'_ She could tell that the Fire Princess was no longer among the living by the extensive burns on her body and the look of her blank eyes and pale skin. '_Wait... its Ursa's here... where is Zuko? He didn't come back to Appa, and there's no other way off this island...'_Suddenly, it dawned on her. '_The cliffs! Spirits, I have to stop him!'_

She ran to the cliffs, desperately shrieking his name, and she had just crested the hilltop as she saw him plummet down over the edge of the cliff towards certain death. Reaching for the sea water, she made a tendril of water gently grab Zuko and deposit him back on the cliff side beside her. As she turned him onto his back, she saw that his right eye was streaming tears while the left side remained dry of tears. '_The scar must have destroyed his tear ducts on that side_...' He was sobbing incoherently as she pulled him to her shoulder. She couldn't make out much of what he was trying to say; all she could catch were the words "Mother", "gone" and "loved her"

She looked up at the stormy skies and silently cursed the Spirits for what they had done to this boy who was so close to her heart. '_How could you? This is the man that lost everything, and when he's finally found the one thing that could make everything worth it; you take that away from him? Where's your heart, Spirits? Have you lost your humanity so quickly, Yue? But I won't let him die. No, I'll be there for him, no matter what. Through rain and shine, and through wind and storm, I _will_ be there for him.'_

- - - oOo - - -

...and so I bid farewell to one of the greatest weeks of the year. Thanks for spending your valuable ZW2010 time reading my one-shots.

No, Aang does not know that Appa is going to be an accomplice to murder. He just thinks that Katara and Zuko are going to bust his mother out of a jail. Gaoler is pseudo-UK speak for jailer, for those of you who didn't know. Why can I not write anything happy? I mean seriously, my best work is almost always sad/angry. Why is that?

Anyways, as usual, credit where it's due:

The opening scene was heavily inspired by the first God of War opening sequence

The entire head gaoler begging for mercy? Totally V for Vendetta. 'nuff said.


End file.
